


Spitsbergen

by Naraht



Category: The Charioteer - Mary Renault
Genre: 1950s, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 17:11:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6385150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naraht/pseuds/Naraht
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ralph and Laurie prepare for an expedition to the north.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spitsbergen

**Author's Note:**

> I started this some years ago and always hoped it would turn into an epic travelogue. Since that didn't seem like happening, have a vignette instead.
> 
> This fic was tangentially inspired by Colin Bull's _Innocents in the Arctic: The 1951 Spitsbergen Expedition_ , which is a great, hilarious read. The 1951 Spitsbergen expedition is, of course, not to blame for Ralph and Laurie, nor for any of their opinions.

Ralph handed the page over to Laurie without comment, pointing at the small advert circled in fountain pen. 

_Experienced skipper, ex-Royal Navy preferred, wanted for university geological expedition to Spitsbergen. Must have sense of humour. Ring Hulme 28467._

Laurie read it over three or four times in succession, trying to pinpoint Spitsbergen in his mind. Arctic or Antarctic? In any case it was somewhere cold.

"We had talked about taking some of that leave I've got saved up," said Ralph finally.

"Yes," said Laurie. "I thought we were thinking of Greece."

"Well, if you don't..."

"It's a new idea, that's all." Laurie refused to let Ralph pluck the sailing magazine out of his grasp. "I suppose if you want to spend your summer dodging ice floes..."

He felt a selfish disappointment at the thought of it. Ten years they had been a couple now; five years living together since the end of the war. He had come to accept as his due having Ralph's arms around him in the night.

Ralph gave him an unreadable look. "I had assumed that you would come along."

Laurie found himself momentarily speechless. "Me?"

A corner of Ralph's mouth quirked up. "I'll need a First Mate, after all."

Though Laurie smiled in response, something in his silence must have seemed doubtful, for Ralph's expression changed to something more neutral.

"Not if you don't want to," he added. "I thought it might be a bit of an adventure, I suppose. But I'm not wedded to the idea, and honestly if you don't like it then that's the end of the matter. I don't see the point of going all that way without you."

One supposed that to an outside observer Ralph would sound as if he were simply and dispassionately stating the facts of the situation. Laurie, after years in his company, knew differently. Suppressed though it was, he could sense the wistfulness in Ralph's voice, read a certain longing in the lines of his face, and he knew that it was one which neither the sea nor Laurie's company alone could entirely assuage.

It was just as he had said. _I don't see the point of going without you._

"Oh, Ralph," said Laurie, "of course I'll come."

***

Laurie sat on the sofa pretending to read the newspaper as Ralph spoke on the phone with the young leader of the expedition. Ralph's tone was brisk and practical, but there was an undercurrent of amusement to it.

"Will you? Yes. Yes, of course... You'll need to think about a first aid kit... No, scratch that, I'll handle it myself, I know just who I can ask... Provisions, naturally... Charts... Yes, navigational charts, I wouldn't take her out of harbour without them, much less through the Norwegian Leads. We'll need quite a few under the circs, I dare say..."

Laurie reached out to fondly pat Ralph's leg. Ralph spared him a quick smile and returned to his negotiations.

"Did you say she had berths for twelve? I've a first mate in mind already, wouldn't ship without him. But she'll need someone to look after the engines as well.... Leave it with me... Did you say she was a motor launch?... Well, familiar enough, I was in antisubmarine trawlers, but a ship is a ship... No, just common sense..." 

He was making rapid, almost telegraphic notes as he talked. In the midst of a scatter of action points one could discern a schematic but unmistakable sketch of the Norwegian coastline, which had been drawn freehand and at speed.

"Send it along by the post but I'm sure it'll suit... Yes... Yes... All the best, I'll be in touch."

He hung up decisively. Something about him had changed already, animated by the prospect of action. 

"She's a Fairmile B, Spud, imagine that." An admiring whistle. "Spent the war chasing U-boats round the North Sea. Hell of a ship, I never thought I'd have the chance to captain one."

"What was he going to send through the post?" Laurie asked, leaning closer to Ralph and earning a rather absent-minded caress for his trouble.

"Just the contract, but I said I was sure the terms would be fine. Better than Navy wages anyhow. There might even be a bit of surveying to be done once we get up there, geological work, though it's been ages since I've had anything to do with a sextant."

Ralph paused, then added: "I think I came onboard in the nick of time."

"Why," said Laurie, "do they not know what they're doing?"

He felt a tendril of doubt, the sudden realisation that he had just agreed to spend three months on a trip to the High Arctic with a group of men whom he'd never met.

"Oh, I don't doubt they know their geology. But Shackleton said that planning was the most important thing. One rather gets the impression that they expect to be wrapped up in string and brown paper and delivered to the survey site like a lot of parcels."

"That's your job, I suppose."

"That's my job," said Ralph with a note of pride. "After all, I got you back from Dunkirk, didn't I?"

Laurie reflected that he had rarely seen Ralph quite this animated, outside of the bedroom at least; he felt certain that Ralph would have taken the job for free, contract or no. Though he had schooled himself to accept the life that he had chosen for himself, desk work had never sat well with him. One could always sense that there was something inside him longing for sea air.

"I'm glad," Laurie said quietly. "You've wanted something like this, haven't you?"

"I have," Ralph acknowledged. 

For a moment it looked as though some confidential words might follow. Then Ralph began tapping his fingers. 

"Spud, do you know where I put my charts?"


End file.
